Macron launches anti-drug operation XXL Cleanup

Drug raids took place across France as part of “XXL sweep operations”; Photo: NICOLAS TOUCAT/AFP

Anti-drug raids have been carried out across France as part of the «XXL sweep operation» designed to demonstrate President Emmanuel Macron's crackdown on drugs ahead of the European elections.

Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said police units carried out raids and made several arrests in the northern city of Lille, as well as in Villeneuve-d'Ascq and Roubaix. French authorities «are going to increase the number of operations that we have been preparing for months to hit very hard,» he promised.

Other raids were carried out in Lyon, Dijon and Paris, Mr Darmanin said, as a result of which 187 people were arrested.

“We have a target of arresting 850 people,” Mr. Darmanen said. “We are about a quarter of the way there,” he added. “Our collective task is to show all residents, especially those in working-class neighborhoods, that they deserve security.”

The wave of raids came after the French president traveled to the southern city of Marseille to announce a massive crackdown.

p> Emmanuel Macron talks with customs officers at Cayenne airport. Photo: Jacques Witt

Mr Macron confirmed the operations would begin after about 10 French cities said it would be a large-scale sweep.

On the first day of the operation, 900 were deployed in Marseille and the Bouches-du-Rhône region, according to local authorities police and customs officers. In the first three days, 22 kilograms of drugs, more than €385,000 (£330,000) in cash and four weapons were seized, and 71 people were taken into custody.

Macron's visit came after Moroccan police arrested Felix. Bingi, 33, nicknamed «The Cat», is the alleged head of the Yoda clan, one of the two main gangs fighting for control of drug trafficking in Marseille.

Thirteen young alleged members of the rival organization DZ Mafia » were arrested two weeks ago in Marseille, Rennes and the Alpes-Haute-Provence as part of an attempted murder investigation in Spain. The war for control of the city's lucrative outlets led to a record 49 drug-related deaths last year, including four collateral victims.

Local residents reacted with skepticism to Mr Macron's trip to Marseille. Experts and drug traffickers quoted in French media said the raids were largely cosmetic and would not change the endemic problem.

Some critics have linked the drug crackdown to attempts by the centrist government to boost its chances. and thwart the threat from the far right ahead of European Parliament elections from June 6 to 9.

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party is voting in first place, according to a poll published on Monday. 30 percent. Macron's Renaissance alliance trails in second place but has narrowed the gap slightly to 21 percent, up twice in a month.

Macron began a two-day visit to French Guiana on Monday. A French territory in South America that has become a center for drug trafficking, in particular through «mules» who use drugs and fly to France.